The present invention is generally concerned with a dispenser for condiments, most usually pepper, which receives and stores the condiment as bulk particles, for example peppercorns, for selective grinding and dispensing.
The typical grinder/dispenser includes a hollow elongate container with a grinding mechanism at the lower discharge end thereof. The grinding mechanism is adjustable to vary the coarseness of the ground pepper or other condiment as it is dispensed. The adjustment of the grinder mechanism is usually effected by a nut-controlled manipulation of an elongate shaft extending through the container and engaged, at the lower end thereof, with the internal grinding component of the grinder mechanism. The shaft, at the upper end thereof, mounts the adjustment nut which is normally exposed for direct manual manipulation. The conventional adjusting nut has a low pitch and requires multiple revolutions thereof in order to achieve the full range of adjustment of a conventional grinder mechanism, that is from fine to coarse. As such, the particular coarseness desired is usually a matter of trial and error with each adjustment being followed by at least a partial dispensing to determine the coarseness.
Pepper grinders are also known wherein the adjustment nut or equivalent means are concealed during the use of the device as a dispenser. However, such adjustment means are not accessible or operable in the concealed position, but rather, must be exposed for subsequent adjustment.
The known salt, pepper or general purpose condiment grinders, as suggested above, require separate means for effecting the coarseness adjustment and for the actual grinding and dispensing, with the separate means being separately accessed and manipulated.